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2004 Skies

This is the last hurrah for Comet C/2001 Q4 Neat as it rapidly
ascends away from the plane of the solar system. In October it moves through
Ursa Minor, along the handle of the Little Dipper. During the middle of the

In early November, look for 5th magnitude Comet C/2003 K4 Linear
in Corvus before sunrise. Venus and Jupiter dominate the eastern sky and the
comet will be closer to the horizon in the southeast. It passed perihelion

Comet tails are typically at their maximum when the comet circuits
closest to the Sun, and Earth currently has the good fortune to be located
in the same quadrant as the perihelion points for both Comet Linear and Comet

Comet C/2001 Q4 Neat is in the head of Ursa Major, the Great
Bear, and will move into the cup of the Big Dipper by the middle of July.
On July 21st it will be between the two end stars of the cup (yellow-white
Alpha and blue-white Beta) which are separated by 5 degrees. Look about 2

In January, Comet Machholz (C/2004 Q2) moves through Taurus
and eastern Aries, and bypasses Triangulum. It then plunges through Perseus
into Cassiopeia. It will appear immediately west of the Pleiades Star Cluster

It should be a fine sight in binoculars at
5th magnitude and will brighten to 4th magnitude when it peaks in January.
The new and crescent Moons will not compete with the light of the comet during
the middle of December, but the waxing Moon will produce an increasing amount
of glare in the latter part of the month

Following Galileo's planetary discoveries using his refined telescopes, mid-17th century European astronomers, physicists, and mathematicians immersed themselves in a series of new planetary discoveries. They made significant advances in mathematics and physics as they attempted to unravel the behavior of the newfound objects and develop new technology to enhance their studies. The ground breaking accomplishments of the Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens include the discovery of Saturn's largest moons and an accurate description of the shape of the rings. The

Comet C/2002 T7 Linear is lost in the sunset for most of early April. It passes perihelion in mid-month and during the rest of April, we hope that it will reappear low in the southern morning sky as a 3rd magnitude well defined comet. It may rise to 2nd magnitude by the end of April and get even brighter in May.